Tomonobu, Ryūgyokutei

Dimensions: 2.9375” x 2.9375”, ANA: 1” x 0.25”

Iron Maru-Gata or round tsuba depicting the moon peaking from behind the clouds over a floral motif. The motif of the moon, pine and bamboo are done in a combination of takabori, zogan  and sukashi engraving, inlay and piercing respectively.

The mei on this tsuba is quite unusual and gave me much grief in trying to translate it.  After admitting defeat, I enlisted the help of Markus Sesko, translator extraordinaire.  I felt much better about my own failure when even Markus had some difficulty and was not 100% sure.

Here is what Markus had to say: I am positive that the left side reads (友布) but there is some ambiguity about the reading. The name dictionary says the nuno (布) character can be read NOBU or YOSHI in names. I tend to NOBU, so I would read his name as TOMONOBU for the time being, although I couldn’t find him in any index, so maybe he slipped through the cracks.

Now as for the right part, I would also say Ryūgyokutei (柳玉亭) at first glance but there is a universe in which the last character could still be an uncommon cursive variant of DŌ (堂). Take note of the three dots on top of the character on the tsuba. They would suggest its the DŌ (堂) character rather than TEI (亭).

Difficult, but I tend to think Ryūgyokutei Tomonobu with this one. Maybe there was a group of tsuba makers sharing the Ryūgyoku… and the Tomo… characters, adding an individual character each to this naming system.            Best regards, Markus

SOLD

If you are interested in purchasing this Tsuba, contact me for details and a shipping quote. Please reference the item in question when writing.

Contact can be made via the website or directly at Yakiba.com@gmail.com